Designed for Skinned Knees

Certain things instantly bring back childhood memories for me: grape fruit roll-ups, ugly sneakers with velcro instead of laces, and fruity scented Mr. Sketch markers are just a few. My clumsiness yesterday reminded of yet another -- scraped knees! Worse than rugburn but not as bad as a gash, nothing aches like a torn-up knee. But at least this injury involves the use of one of my all-time favorite medical supplies... bandages!

My love for bandages began the first time my mom bought ones with cute pictures on them. Now my adoration is more for their packaging -- past and present -- although there are a few comically printed band-aids available that still wet my whistle, like Archie McPhee's expensive but delightful bacon variety.

Inspired by a post on Grrl.com from ages past, I added bandage tins to my obscenely large, vintage tin containers collection, which includes -- but is not limited to -- lunch pails, food and tea tins, advertising tins, collector's tins, and storage tins. Heck, I've even been known to pull a Not Martha and repurpose more generic tins into crafty creations.

To virtually get your bandage tin obsession on, check out these links:

• The Band-Aid Brand Timeline, includes great pix
• Carol's Bandage Tin Directory, her collection is way better than mine
• Savetz's 75 Years of Band-Aid, even includes video clips